We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and analyse how our site is being used. For more information please see our cookie policy.
Hosting a webinar can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never done anything like it before. However, once you get familiar with the process, you’ll find that there are many similarities with presenting to a live audience.
We’ve collected the following tips from our webinar producers to help you and your presenters perfect your presenting skills for your next webinar.
It’s really important to practice so you become more comfortable with the process of presenting. To get experience before the big day, practice a dry run using your smartphone and watch it back. You’ll be amazed at what you pick up from doing this exercise. Afterwards, you can review what went well and what didn’t so that you can tighten up your presentation. If your webinar features multiple presenters or speakers, make sure that they are familiar with each other and try to fit in time for them to practice together. Having any sort of practice or rehearsal will help with the flow of your webinar.
A webinar sounds complicated, with lots of involved technology. Indeed, it can be quite complex; however, taking the time to learn about the process can help to put you at ease. If it’s possible, spend some time understanding the set-up of the studio or environment you’re presenting from and the process involved. If you’re presenting remotely, make sure to do a tech run so that you feel comfortable with the setup. Becoming familiar with the process will help you to feel much more confident when you come to present.
Whatever the topic of your webinar is, remember that the viewers want to get something from it. Even if it’s a promotional webinar for a product or service, try to include information that will leave your audience with some takeaways. Providing downloadable assets to accompany your webinar is a great way to remind your audience of the key points. Consider making PDFs, slides, transcripts or even an e-book available for downloading after your webinar.
It can be easy to think that you’re just talking to a screen or camera when you’re recording remotely. Don’t forget there are real people sitting behind their desks, tablets or phones, and it is important to talk to them as if they were in the room with you.
State, right from the outset, that you’ll take questions throughout the webinar to encourage engagement. Don’t wait until the end of the webinar to ask for questions and encourage your audience to participate throughout your presentation.
It’s a good idea to always have a few pre-prepared questions to hand to the producer to get the ball rolling. Once viewers hear a few questions, their confidence will build to ask one of their own. Having a moderator to help you go through and sort the questions during the presentation can also make your webinar run much smoothly.
As the presenter, it is your job to engage with the viewers. This means coming across as passionate in the tone of voice you are using. If you deliver the webinar in the same monotone voice throughout, people are going to switch off. Hopefully, the topic of the webinar is one you’re interested in, passionate about, or even excited about. Let some of this show!
Make sure to keep your audience in mind and speak in a language that your viewers would use. This will make your presentation more engaging and accessible. If your audience is diverse and comes from a whole range of different backgrounds, keep your language simple so that everyone can understand your presentation. If you’re going to use specialist language, it might be a good idea to address that before your presentation so that your audience knows what to expect.
Language can also be important in signposting your presentation. Using phrases such as ‘now, we’ll turn to’ and ‘to summarise’ will let your audience know where you’re at with your presentation and make it much easier for viewers at home to follow along.
Aim to speak at a conversational pace – try not to go too fast or too slow. A poorly paced presentation can cause your audience to disengage with your presentation, so try to deliver your speech as if you’re speaking directly to them. The key is to break up your speech into bite-sized chunks to allow your audience time to process what you’re saying, slipping in any relevant anecdotes and examples in between to keep your speech interesting.
If you’re filming at a studio or working with a production company, you will most likely have a producer on hand during the presentation. A producer will be able to handle any operating processes, handle questions or load slides, which all allow you to focus on presenting. It’s also part of the producer’s job to guide you on your presentation – use their expertise and lean on them to help you tighten up your presentation. They’ll be able to offer advice on the best way to present your webinar and ensure that your presentation is as strong as possible.
If your webinar is not being filmed at a studio, it might be a good idea to consider having someone who will step into that role to help you out with the technical aspects of your webinar. This could be the event organiser or your colleague, but it’s important that you can trust this person to assist you with your presentation and performance.
If you’re using PowerPoint or any other presentation slides, it’s important to remember that these might appear smaller to your audiences at home. Be mindful that whilst webinars emulate real-life presentations, your audiences might not be able to see your slides as clearly at home. Often in webinars, your presenter and slides will be shown side-by-side, minimising the size of your slides. To make your presentation slides more engaging, keep text to a minimum so that your audience can easily follow along. If you’re keen to include more information, think about making your slides downloadable so that your audiences can digest your presentation after the webinar is finished.
Most importantly, stay relaxed and keep breathing! You know your topic, you’re familiar with the process and equipment, try to enjoy it. Webinars are a great experience that can add real, tangible benefits to your business. Try to relax and keep calm to maximise this opportunity.
At Bombora, we don’t just handle the tech; we help you craft engaging, polished webinar presentations that hit the mark. From studio-grade production and slide optimisation to live moderation and audience interactivity, we support you every step of the way. Whether you’re hosting from our London studio or remotely, we’ll ensure your message lands with impact. Let’s make your next webinar smooth, professional, and memorable: get in touch today.